A Department of Transportation (DOTr) official admitted on Wednesday that the delay in the passage of the proposed 2019 budget has affected several big-ticket infrastructure projects, including the Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT 3) rehabilitation project, Metro Manila subway construction and the North-South Commuter Railway connecting Tutuban, Manila, to Malolos, Bulacan.
Transportation Undersecretary for Railways Timothy John Batan said MRT 3 rehabilitation project is “most affected” by the delay in the passage of the budget.
“The MRT 3 rehab is the most affected because, as I explained earlier, buying the new rails and all the new spare parts for the new system should all be done upfront,” Batan said in Filipino.
In a separate statement, the Transportation department clarified that what is pending is the DOTr’s advance payment of P3 billion to Sumitomo under the Rehabilitation and Maintenance Agreement due to the pendency of the enactment of the 2019 General Appropriations Act, which is the funding source for the project.
Despite this, the DOTr said it was fortunate that rehabilitation and maintenance provider Sumitomo Corp. agreed to advance the purchase of major components for the rehabilitation, which included rail tracks and train parts for the general overhaul of the MRT 3’s 72 train cars.
As for the subway, the DOTr also has a balance that needs to be paid for additional right of way acquisition aside from the P500 billion worth of initial payment.
Nonetheless, the DOTr also assured the public that they have a plan to meet their timeline for all the projects as they await the passage of the 2019 budget.
The rehabilitation of MRT 3 is still on track to be completed in 26 months, the DOTr assured.
Once rehabilitated, the MRT 3 will return to its high-grade infrastructure condition. It will increase the number of its operating train sets from the current 15 to 20 at peak hours, double the train operating speed to 60 kilometers per hour, and slash by half the time between trains from the current seven to 10 minutes down to 3.5 minutes.
The subway system, funded by an official development assistance package from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, will span 36 kilometers, with 15 stations, crossing seven local governments, passing three of Metro Manila’s business districts, and connecting all these to Manila’s main airport in almost 30 minutes or less.
The subway will also be interconnected to the Metro Rail Transit Lines 3 and 7, and the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT 1) via the common station.
It will also be linked to the LRT 2 in Anonas, Quezon City. It is designed to have a physical run-through into the future Philippine National Railways Calamba via FTI Station—meaning, one can board the subway in Valenzuela, then go to Calamba, Laguna, without changing trains.
The subway is designed to carry 1.5 million people per day through the initial 19 train sets configured with eight cars each. It will boast a speed of 80 kilometers per hour to cross multiple cities in just half an hour.
Due to the Congress’s failure to pass the budget before yearend, the government is operating under a reenacted budget at least for the first quarter of the year.
This also comes at a time that the administration plans to usher in the “the golden age of infrastructure” through its “Build, Build, Build” program as it aims to spend up to P9 trillion to roll out 75 flagship infrastructure projects.
1 comment
I almost never write responses, but I browsed a few of the comments on this page Budget approval delay taking its toll
on DOTr infrastructure projects | BusinessMirror.
I actually do have some questions for you if you tend not to mind.
Could it be only me or does it look as if like a few of the responses come across like they are coming from brain dead folks?
😛 And, if you are posting on additional online sites, I
would like to keep up with you. Could you list of all of your social community sites like
your twitter feed, Facebook page or linkedin profile?